(a) Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a movement pattern measuring apparatus using electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG) data and a method thereof. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an apparatus and a method for analyzing user movement patterns by using EEG waveforms and EMG values measured from a user.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Human-Computer Interface (HCI) based bio-signal is a technology which enables the interfaces between human and computers by using bio-signals which can be artificially created, particularly when the elderly and infirm, and the disabled use the computers. Further, this is a technology which creates commands for controlling operation of rehabilitation tools such as a wheelchair, an artificial limb, etc., and can be utilized as the interface for a wearable computer or crippled people.
In HCI, since the bio-signals based on EEG and EMG can be used as input signals without using a keyboard or a touchpad, direct activities for input are not required. Accordingly, in the field of HCI, for disabled people with uncomfortable legs and arms, technologies related with the computer input and the artificial limb have been studied.
Brainwave signals or EEG signals refer to electrical fluctuation created by interactions between neurons in the nervous system, and are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp. These EEG signals may be used for sleep state analysis, concentration or tension degree measurement, schematic feeling recognition, etc.
HCI using the EEG signals is also applied to games. In this case, without any controller or keyboard, only brainwaves are used as inputs of the computer. Currently, researches on a game input technology capable of being most widely used and allowing various inputs have been actively attempted. By using that the concentration degree can be measured via the brainwaves, another research, which utilizes a result obtained from a waveform of a psychiatric patient in the meditation state for a diagnosis, is also being done.
As such, various technologies using the brainwaves serving as a means for HCI have been studied, but there are some problems. Noise and artifacts are inevitably mixed in the measured brainwave, so information loss by the noise and artifacts may occur. These bring a difficulty in analyzing the information.
Since a waveform measured by an EEG sensor when a user performs a specific activity has a simple wavelength, the brainwave corresponding to the specific activity may have one kind of wavelength, but the activity corresponding to one kind of wavelength may be plural. In order to accurately match the measured brainwave with the specific activity, therefore, a technology of measuring EEG and EMG using EEG and EMG sensors together is required.
Further, in known technologies, to pattern the measured brainwave, the most similar pattern of a series of patterns stored in a database was selected. However, because each person's brainwave has different amplitude, such a patterning has a limitation in searching an accurate pattern. Accordingly, after several measurements, a normalization process for the individual brainwaves should be performed.
Korean Patent Publication No. 10-1293446 (published on Aug. 5, 2013) discloses a background technique of the present disclosure.